Anti-war movement

I am back and yesterday I went to a demo in Toronto against the Israeli attacks on Lebanon. The demonstration was about 2,000 people. Given the horror of the Israeli aggression, I would have expected it to be much bigger. I understand that alot of people are confused about the situation in the Middle East and fall prey to the concerns that any criticism of Israel is anti-semitism and that somehow Israel is justified in an agression that would be universally condemned if it were commited by any other state but still.

I couldn't help but feel that part of the problem is the anti-war movement itself. When you are trying to moblize to stop a war, the most important thing is the unite the broadest number of people possible. In this case, the slogan should have been Israel out of Lebanon, or an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. Instead there were any number of slogans and alot of support for Hezbollah and Hamas. I believe that Hamas is the legitimate elected government of Palestine and they should be recognized and treated as such but i don't support them. They are Islamists, that is fundamentalist Muslims and I don't support any fundamentalist religious group especially in politics. There were also supporters of Hezbollah and the Iranian President. I understand the support for Hezbollah as they are actually fighting back against the Israeli agression but such support should not be central to the demonstration It should be clear that the basis of the demo is broader. The suggestion by several speakers was that the left should get it together and realize that the people of the region support Hamas and Hezbollah and therefore we should too. I believe this is wrong politically and not the way to build an anti-war movement. I think there is an urgent need for a discussion on these issues.

I couldn't help but notice much fewer Jewish identified activists at the demo yesterday than in previous demonstrations protesting Israeli policies in the Middle East. It is my view that some of the progessive Jewish groups are getting narrower instead of broader too. Instead of reaching out to those in the Jewish community who are uncomfortable with Israel's aggressive tactics but who support the state of Israel in general, these groups seem to be making anti-Zionism a basis of unity. Now I have opposed Zionism since I was about 22 and traveled to Israel. I believe that Zionism was a trap for the Jews and that in essence it has meant that the Jewish people choose the side of the oppressor rather than uniting with other oppressed people in the world. But anti=Zionsim is no basis of unity of you are trying to get a small but significant voice in the Jewish community in Canada to speak out against the policies of the Israeli government. There are lots of left of centre Zionists who might be convinced to speak out against this kind of aggression but they will never support a position that opposes the ideological basis of the state of Israel. George Gallaway's speech to a huge rally in London, which as been circulated on the net, says clearly that the unity of the demonstration is for an immediate ceasefire but within that he is going to say what he thinks and he supports Hezbollah.

Anyway I left the demo feeling pretty discouraged. The good news is that last week-end there were 15,000 people protesting Israel's aggression last week end in Montreal.